A good year for Schroon Lake

Horicon has one of the 14 new decontamination stations now open across the Adirondacks, part of a pilot program to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. This program is led by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, and Paul Smiths College Adirondack Watershed Institute. Many conservation groups, owners associations, lake associations, local and state governments worked together to make this happen. It uses high pressure hot water to kill any invasive plants or animals, no matter how small. To date, approximately 20 boats have been decontaminated at this site. The boat wash is free to everyone and is a regional boat wash station, manned seven days a week. The ECOS unit was purchased with funds from a Department of State Grant awarded to the Towns of Chester, Horicon and Schroon as a result of the Schroon Lake Watershed Management Plan. Operational costs are shared by these three townships that border Schroon Lake and River.

SCHROON — It has been a good year for the lake, according to Schroon Lake Association President Mark Granger.

Granger and others will be on hand at the annual meeting of the SLA, set for Friday, Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m. at The Boathouse of Dock Street.

The meeting will feature a presentation on the condition of the Town of Schroon and various programs to preserve and improve the condition of the Schroon Lake Watershed. Public officials as well as members of the SLA, the area’s longest standing conservation group, will speak.

“It has been a very good year for the lake,” Granger said, pointing to several areas of success.

“The news is all good on the invasive species front,” he said. “The milfoil harvest is down to about one-eighth of what it has been, while the use of the boat launch stewards and the new decontamination center in Horicon has made a big difference in stopping new threats from coming in.”

Granger said the water quality in the lake has been generally steady, but there has been a lot more of it over the past several months.

“The lake level issues have been a major concern this year,” he said. “It was a couple feet above where it should have been for a long period starting the spring. This is causing erosion and damage to several docks on the lake.”

At the meeting, Schroon Supervisor Michael Marnell will lead off the presentations with a state of the town report, followed by Steve LaMere, SLA Lake Manager, discussing water conditions and testing. Representatives from AIM will report on harvesting of milfoil and other invasives and representative of Warren and Essex County Soil and Water will discuss lake conditions and the 2014-15 Septic Pump-Out Program and Water Runoff Control Programs.

There will also be a discussion of the Boat Launch Lake Steward program jointly sponsored by the Town of Schroon and SLA and as well as the stewards at the southern end of the lake and the scout program sponsored by the Town of Horicon and ESSLA. The boat decontamination station sponsored by Schroon, Horicon and Chester and located near the southern boat launch will also be highlighted.